S E R M ON S upon Serra. If Angels ( hould teach us, we would think the Precepts too ftri& for, Men. Men know how to (peak to us, by fpeaking from the Heart to the Heart : Prov. 27. z9. As Face anfisereth Face in a aloft, fo cloth the Heart of Man to .%11.m. There may be leffer diffe- rences in regard of Complexion and Conftitution, but they know the general Nature of Man. 4. It is the fureft way. If Men deceive us, they deceive themfelves : We have ex- perience of their Fidelity in other Things, and they confirm it by their own Practice. They are fubjeaed to the Law ofthe fame Duties, and Neceffities 5 fometimes real the Truth with their Bloods. 5. It is a comfortable way. Paid, a great Sinner before Converlon 5 Peter, a great inftance of the Infirmities and Falls of the Saints ; yet from their own experience of the Power and Comfort of the Gofpel, preach it to us. Well then, fcorn not God's In(ti tution, but admire the Windom of it. We are bound to fubmit, tho we could fee no- thing but Folly. t Cor. 1. 21. It pleafed God by the foolemefi of Preaching, to fave Merit that believe. 2. Obferv. Again, It is a fpecial Privilege to be chafer to Privileges of Grace, when others are paled by. [Given me out of the World.] t. There is a world of others, and they are left to themfelves. Chrift bath not the Tithe of Mankind, Jer.3.14. One of a City, and two of a Tribe. Chrift doth not take them by Dozens or Hundreds, but by Ones and Two's. Grace falls on few. Chrift feeketh out the Elea, if but one in a Town. 2. They were as eligible as we, only we were tingled out by meet Grace. The Lot might have fallen upon them, as well as upon you, Thoufands in the World were as eligible. Ezek. i 8. 4. Behold all Souls are mine ; as the Soul of the Father, fo a fo the Soul of the Son is mine. All were made by the fame God out of the fame Mais of Nothing : He is equally Judg of all ; all had finned. Thy Soul was as polluted as theirs, as liable to God's Judgment, as deep in the fame Condemnation ; yet fuels was his good Will and Pleafure, to tingle us out. This is the Glory of his Grace, Miferabor cujas mifertus fuero. Ma1.1.2,3. Was not Efau Jacob's Brother ? faith the Lord, yet Iloved Jacob, and I hated Efau. Tho all Men be equal in themfelves, yet Mercy can make a diftinaion.: The belt Reafon is God's good Pleafute. Well then, apply this. (1.) Look to the Diftinaion. How many Reps of Eleaion may we walk up ! That we were not Toads and Serpents, but Men, the fame nothing was as pliable ; not Men only, but Chrittians, within the Pale of the Church ; not Chriftians at large, but born there, where the Mitts and Foggs of Popery were difpelled ; nor Protettants at large, but called to a finder Profeffion ; [till inevery degree Multitudes were cut off. That I was not a Chrittian, but a Minifter, an Officer in the Church. 1 Tim. 1. 52. He counted me faithful, putting me into the Minty. Plato gave thanks for three Things that he Was à Man, not a Woman ; a Grecian, not a Barbarian; not an ordinary Greek¿ but a Philofopher. A Chriftian maymuch more give thanks. (2.) To the reafon of this Di(tinaion. John 14.22. ai yérev, How is it that thou wilt manifefi thy felf to us, and not unto the World ? Luke 1.43. ..Ind whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord Jhould come unto me ? When you have fearched all you can, you mutt rett in Chri(l's Reafon, Mat. 11.26. Even fo Father,for fo it feemed good in thy fight. God's Supremacy over all things in Heaven and in Earth, maketh him free to chute or refufe whom he pleafeth. It is not becaufe you were better difpofed than others ; many of a better temper were paflèd by : God railed up an Habitation to the Spirit out of crabbed knotty pieces. A Man in a Wood leaveth the crooked Timber for Fewel : The young Man that went away fad, was offuch a Tweet natural Temper, that it is Paid, Cbrß loved him. Secondly, Let us now come to the R.eafons why he prayeth for them. I. What he did ; I have manifefled thy Name to them. In which Chrift intimateth his own Faithfulnefs, and their future U.iefulnefs. His own Faithfulnefs; for this was one way ofChrift's glorifying his Father on Earth, by communicating the tenour of the Chrittian Doarine to the Difciples; fo that Come of them by the Light received were to be fpecial Inftruments of converting the World. 'Erixtvlewou, I have manifefied : By outward Teaching, and inward Illumination. Outward Teaching was neceffary; the Myftery of the Gofpel was but fparingly revealed by framer Prophets; but Chrift, who was
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